Feed panel



1969 c. o. BREZITSPRECHER FEED PANEL Filed July 6, 1967 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 28, 1969 c.o. BREITSPRECHER EI'AI.

FEED PANEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 6. 1967 \WQMNN awuwmwmw m Q :i 8

A NW United States Patent Oflice Patented Oct. 28, 1969 US. Cl. 137-599 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A feed panel for controlling plural feed rate of a fluid motor wherein rapid, coarse, and fine feed rates can all be controlled from a single spool valve member and wherein a feed panel having plural feed rates has pressure compensation in all rates of feed by the provision of a pressure compensated flow control valve in the circuit ahead of the valve member that sets the appropriate feed rate. The spool valve member controls flow to and through passages for rapid and coarse feed rates by selectively opening and closing these passages but a third passage for a fine feed rate is unaffected by movement of said spool. An adjustable valve is provided in each of the fine and coarse feed passages downstream of the spool valve for controlling the rate of flow therethrough and a check valve is provided to bypass the spool valve, ad-

justable valve and pressure compensated flow control' valve upon flow occurring in a reverse direction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a feed panel providing a predetermined feed rate for a fluid motor in circuit with the feed panel and, more particularly, to a feed panel in which all of the feed rates can be established by the positioning of a single valve member. Also, a feed panel wherein all feed rates are pressure compensated to maintain a fixed pressure differential across the' controlled flow path to avoid the problems encoutered in noncompenseated deceleration of a fluid motor by shift of the feed panel control valve member which has resulted in shock and skidding movement of the controlled parts operated by the motor and also abrupt speed transitions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to provide a new andimproved feed panel.

Another object of the invention is to provide a feed panel having control of rapid, coarse, and fine feed rates with all of these rates being under the control of and established by the setting of a single valve member in the feed panel.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a feed panel having provision for setting plural feed rates with all of the feed rates being subjected to the action of a pressure compensated flow control valve to provide smoother operation of the controlled fluid motor.

A further object of the invention is to provide a feed panel providing rapid, coarse, and fine feed control with pressure compensation in all feed rates comprising, a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, a pressure compensating flow control valve member in said body in flow communication with the inlet, a feed rate setting spool movable within a bore in said body, a fluid conduit in said body connecting the downstream side of the flow control valve member with said bore, and a plurality of passages leading from said bore to said outlet providing for parallel flow of fluid to the outlet, said spool having three operative positions to determine the feed rate by the number of passages that are operative, and a pair of said passages leading to the outlet each having an adjustable flow control valve therein for controlling the fine and coarse feed rates, respectively, said passage having the flow control valve for setting the fine feed rate being open to said bore and to the inlet in all positions of said spool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the feed panel;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section, taken generally along the line 2--2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section, taken generally along the line 33 in FIGS. 1 and 4;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken generally along the line 44 in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the circuit embodied in the feed panel utilizing conventional symbols.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The feed panel comprises a body, indicated generally at 10. The major components in the body include a feed rate setting means in the form of a spool valve member, indicated generalyy at 11, a pair of rate setting flow con trol valves, indicated generally at 16 and 16, a pressure compensated flow control valve, indicated generally 'at 17, and a check valve, indicated generally at 18, providing for unrestricted reverse flow through the feed panel.

The valve body has a fluid inlet passage 20 and a fluid outlet passage 21 opening to the rear of the feed panel body 10.

The inlet passage 20 communicates with a bore 22 extending transversely of the feed panel body and which houses the flow control valve 17, while the outlet 21 communicates with a passage 23 extending parallel to and located above the bore 22.

The upright spool 11 is movable in a vertical central bore in the body 10* having a lower end 30, an upper end 31, and a pair of intermediate control lands 32 and 33 which coact with the spool 11. An upwardly curved passage 34, shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, interconnects the bore 22 housing the flow control valve 17 and the bore having the spool 11.

There are three different passages providing for selective, parallel flow from the bore which mounts spool 11 with an upper, annular passage 35 surrounding the spool 11 and communicating with the outlet passage 21, as shown in FIG. 2. This is the passage which is operative to permit fluid flow when the feed panel establishes a rapid feed rate for the controlled fluid motor. A passage 36 communicates with an upwardly extending passage 37 which connects with a bore 38 housing the flow control valve 15 for setting the fine feed rate. A passage 39 communicates with a downwardly extending passage '40 which communicates with a bore 41 housing the flow control valve 16 for setting the coarse feed rate. The bores 38 and 41, at their ends, communicate with a vertically extending passage 42 which, at its upper end, connects with a rearwardly extending passage 43' shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 which intersects passage 23 connected to the outlet passage 21.

With the structure so far described, it will be apparent that fluid flowing to a controlled fluid motor flows to the inlet port 20 where it is subjected to control by the pressure compensated flow control valve 17 and then flows through the passage 34 up to the area of the feed rate setting spool 11. At all times, a certain rate of flow passes through passages 36 and 37 and through the flow control valve to the outlet 21, which sets the fine feed rate. Greater rates of speed can be obtained, depending upon the positioning of the spool 11.

Referring more particularly to the pressure compensated flow control valve, this valve has a control land 50 coacting with the inlet passage to control the degree of opening of this passage. Fluid at inlet pressure urges the valve to the right, as viewed in FIG. 4, by acting on an enlarged face 51 of the flow control valve and on a face 52 at the left end of the control valve. The latter face connects with the passage 34 through an opening 53 in a wall 54 of the valve of the feed panel body and an open-ended interior passage 55 extending lengthwise of the spool of the flow control valve to the face 52 of the valve member. The flow control valve member is urged against the forces provided by the inlet pressure fluid, or to the left, as viewed in FIG. 4, by a spring 56 engaged between an end cap 57 threaded into the feed panel body and a recess 58 formed in an end of the spool of the flow control valve member. In addition to the spring force, the valve member is urged toward the left, as viewed in FIG. 4, by the outlet pressure obtained from a passage 60 formed in body 10, shown in FIG. 3, communicating between the upright passage 42 and a space 61 within the bore 22 and behind the cup-shaped portion 58 of the valve member. The opening of the passage 60 into the space 61 is shown at 62 in FIG. 3. The pressure compensated flow control maintains a fixed pressure dilferential across the controlled flow path between the inlet and outlet of the feed panel and by its positioning in bore 22 functions at all of the different feed rates settable by the feed panel and during deceleration action obtained by movement of the rate-setting spool 11 to provide smoother, shock-free operation without any tendency for skidding of the part driven by the fluid motor.

The feed rate setting spool 11, as shown particularly in FIG. 2, is urged to an upper position by a spring 65 engaging the lower end of the spool through a motionlimiting washer 66 and, as shown, is positioned to provide for a rapid feed rate wherein flow is not only through the fine feed rate passages but is also through the passage which directly communicates with the outlet passage 21. The spool can be lowered from the position shown in response to action of a cam (not shown) acting on a cam follower roller 67 connected to a punger 68 which, at its lower end engages the upper end of the spool. The position of the spool 11, shown in FIG. 2 is represented diagrammatically in FIG. 5. It will be noted that upon the first lowering movement of the spool 11 there is an intermediate position wherein the flow path is also open to the passage 39 for directing flow through the coarse feed flow control valve 16. This has no operative effect on the rapid feed rate. Upon further downward movement, the flow through passage 35 directly to the outlet passage 21 is progressively blocked to discontinue rapid feed and there is flow through the coarse feed flow control valve 16 and the fine feed rate passages which, taken in total, provide the coarse feed rate. This is accomplished by the large diameter upper end 70 of the feed rate setting spool 11 moving down into a position wherein it is opposite the land 32 in the spool bore to block fiow from passage 34 to the passage 35 leading directly to the outlet passage 21. Before the large diameter section 70 is positioned to block the flow, the flow is progressively decreased by the tapered spool section 741a coacting with land 32. At the same time, a large diameter section 71 of the spool has moved downwardly out of coacting relation with the land 33 so that the passage 34 is connected to the passage 39 which leads to the coarse sped flow control valve 16. The final and lowermost position of the spool 11 brings a central land 75 on the spool down into operative relation with the land 33 of the bore to block the passage 39, with the large diameter upper section 70 still engaging land 32 so that the only flow is through the constantly open passage 36 to obtain the fine feed rate.

Each of theflow control vlaves 15 and 16 is generally conventional, with the flow control valve 15 having a dial 7 8 at the front face of the feed panel body 10* connected to a stem 79 provided with a hollow valve member 80 having a cut 81 extending through the wall and about a part of the periphery thereof to coact with an opening 82 in a sleeve 83 fitted in the bore 38. Thus, upon rotation of the dial 78, the extent of opening of the cut 81 relative to the opening 82 can be controlled to set the rate of flow through the fine feed flow control valve.

Similarly, the coarse feed adjustment flow control valve has a dial 85 connected to a stem 86 having a hollow valve member 87 with a cut 88 through the wall which can have a controlled amount of communication with an opening 89 in a sleeve 90- fitted in the bore 41.

When it is desired to have free flow through the feed panel in a direction opposite to that described herein, flow passes into the normal outlet passage 21 and opens a relief valve member 91 normally urged to a closed position by a spring 92 against a shoulder 93 at an end of the bore 23 to have direct fluid flow to a vetrically extending passage 94 which communicates with the normal inlet passage 20. As shown in FIG. 4, this permits direct flow through the feed panel while, in normal operation with flow into the inlet port 20, the check valve 91 functions to block direct connection between the inlet passage 20 and the bore 23 communicating with the outlet passage 21.

We claim:

1. A feed panel for controlling plural feed rates of a fluid motor and providing pressure compensated deceleration comprising, a valve body having a bore and an inlet and an outlet communicating with said bore, at least two independent passages leading from said bore to said outlet with an adjustable flow control valve disposed in at least one of said passages, a feed rate setting spool positionable in said bore to control flow to and through said passages and to provide for deceleration of a controlled fluid motor, and a pressure compensated flow control valve in said body between the inlet and said bore to maintain a fixed pressure difierential across the controlled flow path and provide pressure compensated deceleration to avoid uncontrolled skidding of the motor and parts controlled thereby.

2. A feed panel as defined in claim 1 wherein there are three of said independent passages with said spool controlling flow through two of said passages for rapid and coarse feeds and the third passage being independent of said spool for fine feed flow, and the coarse and fine feed passages each having an adjustable flow control valve therein for setting the desired rate of feed.

3. A feed panel as defined in claim 1 wherein said inlet and outlet are connected by an additional passage in said body with a check valve openable in response to reverse flow in a direction from the outlet to the inlet.

4. A feed panel as defined in claim 1 wherein said bore has a pair of spaced apart lands with said two independent passages located one at each side of one of said lands, a first section on said spool to coact with said one land to block communication between said passages in a first spool position, and a land on said spool spaced from said first section to block communication between said passages in a second spool position.

5. A feed panel as defined in claim 4 wherein a third passage leads from said bore and communicates with one of said independent passages when the spool is in said first position and spool sections coacting with the other of said pair of lands to progressively block communication to said third passage as the spool moves toward said second position.

6. A feed panel providing for rapid, coarse and fine feed control comprising, a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, a feed rate setting spool movable within a bore in said body, a fluid conduit in said body connecting the inlet with said bore, and a plurality of passages leading from said bore to said outlet providing for parallel flow of fluid to the outlet, said spool having three operative positions to determine the feed rate by the number of passages that are operative, and a pair of said passages leading to the outlet each having an adjustable flow control valve therein for controlling the fine and coarse feed rates respectively, said passage having the flow control valve for setting the fine feed rate being open to said bore and to the inlet in all positions of said spool.

7. A feed panel as defined in claim 6 wherein a pressure compensating flow control valve is located in said body in the flow path between said inlet and said bore whereby all feed rates are compensated.

8. A feed panel as defined in claim 6 wherein said inlet and outlet are connected by an additional passage in said body with a check valve openable in response to reverse flow in a direction from the outlet to the inlet.

9. A feed panel providing rapid, coarse, and fine feed control with pressure compensation in all feed rates comprising, a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, :1 pressure compensating flow control valve member in said body in flow communication with the inlet, a feed rate setting spool movable within a bore in said body, a fluid conduit in said body connecting the downstream side of the flow control valve member with said bore, and a plurality of passages leading from said bore to said outlet providing for parallel flow of fluid to the outlet, said spool having three operative positions to determine the feed rate by the number of passages that are operative, and a pair of said passages leading to the outlet each having an adjustable flow control valve therein for controlling the fine and coarse feed rates, respectively, said passage having the flow control valve for setting the fine feed rate being open to said bore and to the inlet in all positions of said spool.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,823,648 2/1958 Wood 137--613 X 3,200,841 8/1965 Beutler 137-596.2 X 3,214,129 10/1965 Pusch et al. 137--625.3 X 3,217,731 11/1965 Swanson -137-599 X 3,375,845 4/1968 Behm 137-599 X ROBERT G. NELSON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

